Finally, a real fall day in our part of the world. Temperatures near 70, even under a cloudy blue sky, and a good fall breeze (to make the leaves blow down)! Connor and I took advantage of the day while his brothers were in school.
First, we ran an errand. My truck has been needing an oil change for a while, and they just opened a new service station near our house that is just a few blocks away from one of our favorite little parks. We stopped there to drop off the truck, and then we walked back up the hill to the park. Even though someone complained a little bit about the walk, he had plenty of energy left after we got there to play!
It turned into hours of fun. First, there is the digger, where kids can work a hand crane and move mulch around. It's a big hit with Connor (and pretty much all of the other kids we saw there today). There was some reluctance at sharing and turn-taking, but after a little conversation about sharing or going home, he decided to share. Next there were slides and swings and see-saws to conquer. We also had to pretend we were on a "good" pirate ship and that we were fighting off the "bad" pirate ship. There was lots of shooting and dropping and raising the (pretend) anchor and firing the cannons and raising and dropping the sails. Mr. Imagination had a big time, and drug me into it.
On our way back, we noticed the street that one of his friends happens to live on. We'd never been there before, but his friends mom and another friend had talked about how it was just around the corner from the park. And then Connor spied his friends minivan in the driveway. We just had to go see his house. I told him we could go look, but we probably shouldn't try to stop by. Though I don't mind drop-by guests at our house, some people don't really like that kind of thing.
But Connor was really pitiful about wanting to say "hi" to his friend, and I gave in. We knocked, but didn't ring the doorbell, because his friend has a younger brother who naps. We didn't want to wake anyone. And just as we were about to give up and keep walking, they appeared. Connor's friend had a big smile to see Connor, and he smiled (from behind my back where he was hiding). We stayed for just a little while, intruding on their day and letting the boys play for a little bit. And then it was time to go.
We stopped by Mommy's favorite, Steak-n-Shake, on the way back to pick up brothers. Nothing like a chocolate milkshake to end our Mommy & me day out!
As much as I'd love to post more pictures, right now, I have a very chatty and annoying little boy who wants to "play a game, please!"